Graham Burton – Washington

August 2017

Pervert sent sexual pictures of himself to man he thought was a 13-year-old girl

A ‘family man’ with a sexual interest in children who thought he was talking to a 13-year-old girl online was in fact chatting to an adult who used the conversation to satisfy his own perverted desires.

Grandfather Graham Burton engaged in a string of online messages with teenager “Tash” without realising he was actually talking to an adult male.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the second man was in fact partaking in the conversation for his own sexual gratification.

Burton, who was known to police, sent numerous sexual pictures of his body to the ‘girl’, saying that he wanted to take her to a hotel and take her virginity, before his property was recognised by officers when they later saw the images.

Burton also collected 30 indecent images of children, including 10 in the highest category, and extreme porn images of adults having sex with animals were found on his phones, kindle and laptop.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how he searched for “pre-teens” on porn websites and that one of the images included a child so young that a judge described them as a baby.

Burton pleaded guilty to attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity, possessing extreme porn, three counts of making indecent images of children and distributing indecent images of children.

Prosecutor David Crook said: “He sent pictures of himself that showed him in an armchair and next to a table and the police recognised the layout from the scene.

“There were also invites to B&Bs and hotels. Somewhere there were no cameras.

“He wanted to take her virginity. He said to her ‘you look much older than 13’.Jailing him for 16 months, Mr Recorder Stuart Brown said a custodial sentence was justified and added: “I have been urged that because in this case there is no victim that I am able to suspend the sentence but I cannot believe that I can do that. “The least sentence that I can pass is one of 16 months.”

Burton, 53, of Collingwood Court, Washington, was also given a sexual harm prevention order which will last seven years and the images have been ordered to be destroyed.